Seasonal Treats: Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Happy month of May! 🙂

When the sun stops hiding behind cloths of clouds it’s lovely to feel its warmth, and even though this morning was still chilly I have cut my daily portion of socks to one pair rather than two!

With warmer temperatures new crops can thrive, so I have been continuing my seasonal vegetables adventures and tried purple sprouting broccoli…even though I heard that some vegetables have been a little late due to our extra long Winter.

A few weeks ago we went shopping on a week day night and there was a mountain of “reduced to clear” vegetables. I bought half of that mountain of goodness.

 

Reduced to clear vegetables

 

I got 3 500g packs of organic carrots from the U.K., they were 19p each instead of £1. I also got a pack of seasonal purple sprouting broccoli which were 25p instead of £1.49 and a pack of broccoli and cauliflower for 25p instead of £1.29, so not only I spent a fraction of their price but these vegetables avoided being thrown away.

Of course they were reduced because of the use by date, but most vegetables (especially carrots) last a lot longer than the dates that supermarkets place on them, so nothing was wasted at all. As usual if in doubt Still Tasty is a great website for extra guidance on the best way and how long to keep food safely.

Pretty orange and yellow British organic carrots

 

With so many vegetables I decided to make a big tray of roasted vegetables, with added shallots – which were still in season then – organic rosemary and garlic and a generous glug of extra virgin olive oil.

Roasted vegetables – organic, seasonal, saved from being wasted

I wanted to make the purple sprouting broccoli separately so I cooked them on the griddle pan with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.

Purple sprouting broccoli are really pretty and tasty, I had never tried them before but I’m glad I discovered them thanks to my seasonal veg mania. They are different in shape to ordinary broccoli and really look like little trees, you eat the stalk and they are great steamed, boiled and they had a nice bite when I made them on the griddle pan.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli Natural Beauty

 

Lovely vegetables

 

I had them with some vegetarian nut roast (which was also reduced to clear) for a sustainable super filling and tasty meal:

 

Sustainable vegetables and nut roast

 

I bought PSB (yes, purple sprouting broccoli 😛 ) again at the weekend and made a very Italian-style recipe inspired by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s recipe on the Guardian website.

Italian-style because it’s a really simple pasta meal where the vegetable used, in this case PSB, is the complete star of the dish and the ingredients are few but great. Another famous veg-pasta combination is orecchiette with broccoli.

I used whole wheat pasta to make it healthier and less processed and this dish is quick (15 minutes), healthy and vegan.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli Pasta – 4 portions

• 350g Whole wheat pasta
• 200g or 300g of purple sprouting broccoli
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• A pinch of chilli flakes
• 2 Cloves of garlic, chopped
• Salt and black pepper

-Bring a large pot of water to the boil, add salt and the pasta. Cook until very al dente. Trim the ends of the purple sprouting broccoli and cut them in easy-to-eat pieces and add them to the pot about 5 minutes before the pasta is cooked.

-In the meantime heat the oil in a pan and add the chilli and garlic, once the pasta is cooked drain it and add it to the pan, tossing it in the lovely garlic and chilli oil, add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Whole wheat pasta with purple sprouting broccoli – Seasonal and vegan

Enjoy!

 

Have you ever tried purple sprouting broccoli?

Do you sometimes buy reduced to clear food?